We compared topographic maps from various locations, from Hilton Head Island to Mt. St. Helens, to the Mississippi Palisades State Park. We then made three dimensional models from simple topographic maps to better understand the information contained in these maps.
Finally, we used a three dimensional model of Mt. Capulin, a dormant volcano in New Mexico, to reverse the process, making a topographic map from a three dimensional model.
(Thank you to ABC 25 who provided the grant that paid for this model.)
(Thank you to ABC 25 who provided the grant that paid for this model.)
The Super Bowl Sunday snow storm shortened our Modeling sessions, so only the Wednesday crew got to explore molecular models. We compared frame, ball and stick, and space filling models of butane before diving into trays of MolyMod atoms and bonds to create our own molecules. We also built models to show why cis- trans isomers of 1,2 dichloroethene are different molecules, what makes a carbon atom a chiral center, and why aromatic rings are flat. The students created a number of exotic molecules that I sincerely doubt actually exist.